1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and specifically to distributed computing and storage mechanisms on networked computer systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many commercial businesses and enterprises make extensive use of personal computers (PCs) in their daily operations. Typically, each user of a PC in the enterprise has a networked PC at his/her desk or work area. As the number of networked computer systems utilized in an enterprise increases, the management of resources in the network may become increasingly complex and expensive. Some of the manageability issues involved in maintaining a large number of networked computer systems may include ease of installation and deployment, the topology and physical logistics of the network, asset management, scalability (the cost and effort involved in increasing the number of units), troubleshooting network or unit problems, support costs, software tracking and management, as well as the simple issue of physical space, be it floor space or room on the desktop, as well as security issues regarding physical assets, information protection, software control, and computer virus issues.
A typical computer system has I/O access to one or more volumes on a storage device such as a hard drive. A volume generally includes an amount of free (unused) storage space which varies over time. When the number of computers and respective volumes in the networked system becomes very large, the total amount of unused storage may become significant.
Multiple PCs that are centralized and closely coupled are often suitable for performing distributed computing tasks. Traditionally, tasks that are performed across multiple computers tend to include processor-intensive algorithms and tasks that can be easily broken into manageable chunks. These programs must typically be rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of multiple PCs and shared resources. Existing software, including applications that traditionally have not been performed in a distributed manner, are often not configured to take advantage of distributed computing possibilities.
Therefore, an improved system is desired for configuring networked computer systems to use network storage resources in an efficient manner.